‘Arrested Development’ Season 4: Movie May Take Until…

'Arrested Development' fans around the globe continue to anticipate the upcoming 15-episode reunion season, now set to debut on May 26. Beyond the so-called fourth season, we've heard series creator Mitch Hurwitz and star Jason Bateman describe the new episodes as a build-up to the long-proposed movie, but how long would it take for the movie to get off the ground? New word from Jason Bateman suggests we might have to wait awhile...

We've been dreaming of a potential 'Arrested Development' movie since 2006, our hopes somewhat tempered by the May 26 release of Netflix's upcoming reunion season. Even as our beloved Bluths debut 15 new episodes, all of which have been said to build toward a movie, it may take time before the cast finds an opportunity to reunite.

Speaking to iamROGUE.com, series star Jason Bateman offered an update on the potential movie:

Unfortunately, there's probably gonna be about a year, maybe a year-and-a-half gap between the [series and the movie], so you'll end up having to watch these episodes again... It wasn't perfectly scheduled, but we were just happy to get together as soon as we could...One doesn’t really work without the other. They keep saying it’s a new season, but it is actually a bunch of episodes that set up the movie.

We've previously heard from Netflix that additional 'Arrested Development' content beyond the 15 episodes could prove too difficult to put together, but there's always the hope that their success inspires a film studio to move forward with the movie adaptation. If nothing else, 15 new half-hours of 'Arrested Development debuting May 26 is still enough to blue ourselves for the foreseeable future.

What say you? Do you think 'Arrested Development' will finally spawn the long-awaited movie, or could it take as long as Jason Bateman suspects? Give us your hopes for the future of 'Arrested Development' in the comments!